The present invention relates to computers and, more specifically, to electronic documents. A major objective of the invention is to provide for more convenient notice of and access to updated versions of electronic documents.
Access to information has been revolutionized by the development of computers, networks, and, especially, the Internet. Typically, a user can find a multitude of electronic documents on any given subject merely by typing appropriate key words into a Internet search engine. In many cases, the documents can be downloaded to the user's computer for more convenient access in the future. Two of the most common formats for these documents are html (“HyperText Markup Language”) and pdf (portable document format). Each of these formats requires an appropriate reader program, e.g., a web browser for html, and Adobe Acrobat (available from Adobe Systems, Inc.) for pdf.
Because of the ease with which electronic documents can be edited and distributed, updated versions of documents are often available. The updates may include new or updated information and/or correct errors in the original documents. In the case of documentation for a software program, updates may correspond to changes introduced by a new version of the software program. In any event, it is often desirable to have, or at least be aware of, the most-recent version of an electronic document.
In many cases, a user can check for the most-recent version of a document by revisiting the Internet or network source for the document. However, this method can be inconvenient, especially as a document may have been downloaded in part to avoid having to revisit the Internet for the information contained in the document. Also, visiting the original site may be problematic where the site has been changed or its address has been forgotten. In addition, some documents appear on multiple sites so that there is no guarantee that the site a user downloaded a document from had or has the most recent version. What is needed is a more convenient method of allowing a user to determine the existence of and to access an updated version of a previously downloaded document.